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THE SKID PAN
Page 41
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While most modern tractors will have ABS, connecting an all-singing, all-dancing unit to an old trailer without ABS means that a driver will have to treat the whole vehicie as if it doesn't have the braking aid fitted.
To demonstrate, Haldex and IRST were using two ERFs, one with ABS and one without, on a skidpan.
Having never got behind the wheel of an ERF before, my initial struggle was with the gearbox, but with the correct gear selected, I set off towards the skid pan in the truck with ABS.
On reaching 30mph and the first set of cones, I stamped on the brake and clutch and the truck was easy enough to stop. The braking system allows the vehicle to brake and steer at the same time, which means I can keep my foot hard on the brake and steer around the obstacle, no matter what speed I'm doing. I try this three times, slowly increasing my speed, but it is still simple enough to stop the vehicle and steer it round the cones.
Without ABS is a different matter. There's a choice to make between braking and steering, even though I quite clearly need to do both.
Once again I set off towards the skid pan and reach about 20mph before I hit the brakes. Even at 20mph it's difficult to avoid the obstacle. and even harder to remember to take my foot off the brake to allow myself to steer around it. Some of those with me on the demo were considerably more experienced at driving trucks, and even they struggled with this. Despite three attempts on the non-ABS ERF, I always managed to clip a cone.